


Thunder Roar, Lightning Strike

by Aurum_Auri



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: AI Jack, M/M, Masturbation, keraunophilia, set during tftb, thunderstorm kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 00:10:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19239889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurum_Auri/pseuds/Aurum_Auri
Summary: Rhys discovers he has a small problem when a rainstorm strikes Pandora. Good thing Jack is there to help him through it.





	Thunder Roar, Lightning Strike

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eroska](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eroska/gifts).



A knife of white split the gathering clouds. Lightning cracked, followed close behind by a booming report of thunder.  

The air pressure seemed to weigh on them as they walked, like the atmosphere was as swollen and bloated as the skag corpse they’d passed a mile back. It was just getting worse as time passed, as the clouds swept in from the east. 

The dust stirred. A sudden gust of wind kicked up, leaving Rhys and Vaughn hacking until it settled. 

“At least it’s cooling off,” Vaughn said with half a smile. He looked to the thick clouds overhead. They roiled, dark and black, heavy with the promise of a sudden storm. 

Rhys looked at Vaughn. “Does this mean you’ll put your shirt back on?”

“Hey bro, don’t be jealous.” Vaughn grinned, and he started looking around. “We should probably take shelter though, right? With our luck, Pandora has… I don’t know. Acid rain.”

Rhys shuddered. Just what they didn’t need right now. “Yeah. I think I see a break in those cliffs. Hopefully nothing is living in there.” He and Vaughn exchanged a look, and they picked their way up, soon finding the cave entrance. 

The break in the cliff face wasn’t much, just a shattered scar broken out of the wall, but it would get them out of the rain. Finally, a stroke of luck, after all the absolute shit they were going through. It wasn’t massive. Kinda tiny, honestly, but more than large enough to accomodate two grown men and even a fire.

They had barely stepped inside when it started to drizzle, a low, steady sort of rain that quickly soaked the parched earth. “We can just wait here for Yvette to get us supplies,” Rhys said. “Shouldn’t be too much longer.” He turned his hand over, bringing up the image of Yvette in the holo. “Supply check?”

“That rain is messing everything up. I can drop everything, but I can’t target it perfectly with all the clouds.”

“Can you wait for it to stop?” Vaughn piped in. He leaned forward, pressing his face in where he could see and hear. 

“There’s no time. If I don’t send these now, I won’t be able to at all. I’m going to send them, but you’re going to have to hunt them down if they don’t land in the right spot.”

“That’s fine,” Rhys said. “We’ll just follow the signal once the rain lets up.”

“Good luck guys. I gotta go.” She disconnected, and they were left in the dark of a quiet cave hollow. At least they were getting their supplies. If this stroke of luck lasted, they’d be back in business soon enough. 

The cave flashed white with a sudden rip of lightning, and the resulting thunder roared loud in Rhys’s ears. He muffled a startled squeak, clamping a hand over his mouth. That was… unexpected. 

Vaughn laughed at him. “Dude, it’s just a storm. We’ll be fine, nothing to be scared of.”

“I’m not _scared_ ,” Rhys said. He wasn’t. There was… another problem. He shrugged it off. It was fine, everything was fine. He could ignore this. 

“It looks like normal rain,” Vaughn said. 

“Don’t touch it, it’ll probably melt your flesh off.”

“You right, bro,” Vaughn said, though he paced along the edge of the cave. “Everything on this planet wants to kill us. I bet the rain does too— oh.”

“What?”

“Wind blew some rain on my face. It’s fine. Kind of nice, actually.” Vaughn used his shirt to dry the rain spattering his face and chest. No corrosion. Rhys stuck his hand out in the rain. It was cool, refreshing after the heat of the day. 

“I’m going to try and find some wood or trash or something before it’s all too wet to burn,” Rhys said. “Be right back, bro.”

Vaughn nodded. “Don’t go too far, bro. There’s probably skags or bullymongs or Jack knows what else.” 

Rhys nodded and jogged out into the rain. He grabbed a few easy pieces. The rain hadn’t really started in earnest yet, but it was getting closer, if the distant peal of thunder was any indication. 

The sprinkle of rain was light enough that it barely cooled the horrible heat on the air. It practically sizzled when it hit the ground. In fact, it made the heat almost more unbearable. The previously dry air was now thick with humidity. Every breath felt harder than the last. 

There was another sharp crack of thunder, and raw _feeling_ ripped through his body just as fast, swelling in his chest and filling him with a sensation of near-mania. Rhys bit his lip. His blood raced through his veins, thrumming and alive. It was impossible to stifle the little sound that slipped out of his chest. 

“Scared of a little storm, kiddo? Ha, that’s hilarious!” 

Rhys whipped around, stunned to see a blue shimmer in the air. “Handsome Jack! You’re back?”

“The one and only. What, you didn’t think you got rid of me, did you? Are you blushing? You’re blushing,” Jack cackled. “Don’t tell me you’re freaking out over a little storm!”

“I’m not!” Rhys said. He picked up a piece of discarded refuse from the ground with a bit more force than necessary. His arms were getting full and his hair was getting slick from the rain. “Hey, this rain isn’t going to give me cancer or something, is it?”

Jack looked up at the sky and shrugged. “Probably. Can’t say for sure, but I think there’s an old eridium mine somewhere, so the rain might be contaminated.”

“... Wonderful,” Rhys said. He grabbed another piece of wood, trying to hide the heat in his cheeks. Lightning flashed, so harsh that it lit the gloom brighter than day. The thunder chased only a second or two behind, close enough to make the world tremble. A moan escaped Rhys’s lips. His legs turned shaky and weak. 

“Kid, this is embarrassing for both of us. There aren’t even storms in Helios. Might be a fun addition, though. Just something a little shocking to keep people on their toes— what the hell, cupcake?”

Rhys blinked. He didn’t realize how he’d ended up here, crouched down under a jetting overhang of rock, eyes closed tight and all the refuse scattered around him in the shade of the only dry spot. “Just- leave me alone,” Rhys grumbled. He pawed his wet hair from his face as the rain fell harder around them. 

Jack stood out in the middle of it all, entirely unphased. “Haha, and leave you to suffer all alone? This is freaking hilarious for me.” Jack dropped into a crouch next to Rhys, grinning. “What’s the worst part? The rain beating down on you? The lightning flashing? The scary-wary thunder?”

Thunder rolled, and Rhys couldn’t stifle the low moan. He squeezed his thighs together, squirming. It simmered hot and wild in his body. There was no way to contain it. 

“C’mon, leave me alo-oone,” Rhys hiccuped, dissolved into another shaky, gasping moan as lightning cleaved the sky in two. His head fell back. The pupil of his eye was dilated. 

Jack started to cackle. “Look at you, pumpkin! Getting all strung out? Or maybe—” Jack broke off. “Well, well, whatcha sporting there, sport?”

Jack leaned in closer, grinning from ear to ear. Rhys was flushed, gasping, his body open. With great regret, he glanced down at his lap. The juncture of his thighs featured a prominent, tenting bulge, painfully visible in his damp clothes. Great. 

“I told you, not scared,” Rhys bit out. Shame bubbled inside him. He couldn’t go back like this. But he couldn’t do anything about it, not here. 

Jack wouldn’t stop laughing. “Okay, okay, you have to explain this to me. The thunderstorm’s doing it for you? Got you all hot and bothered? Is that it?”

“Shut up,” Rhys groaned. “Habit. Turned on fake rain sounds when I was jerking off, just wanted to cover the sound. It’s not a thing.” 

“According to your dick right now, it’s definitely a thing, princess. You gonna do something about that? Or are you too shy?” Years of it. A Pavlovian reaction if Rhys had ever heard one. Maybe it was a thing. 

Jack was egging him on. Why he wanted to play the role of bad influence, Rhys would never understand. But it was infuriating, and Rhys was turned the hell on. And having his idol, his hero, standing under the same rocky outcrop, well… yeah. It was doing it for him. 

“I’m fine,” Rhys said tersely. He tried to stand, only for another earthshaking roll of thunder to send him back onto the ground. He was so hard it hurt, his whole body thrumming with arousal and heat. The mindless drive to touch himself was insufferable. 

He bit his lip. 

“You going to do it or not? C’mon, cupcake, muscles is gonna be wondering where you wandered off too. Want him thinking you’re skag chow? Or did you want him to help you? I saw you staring at his freakishly defined muscles—”

“F-fine,” he gasped. “Turn away. I’ll be quick, and then I’ll head back.”

Jack roared with more of that echoing, bouncing laughter. It sank into Rhys’s skin like fire, made him shiver and writhe. He fumbled with his zipper, slipping his flesh hand into his wet trousers without preamble. 

He tried to tune out the laughter with the first, trembling touch. His flesh was hot, but his hand was cool and wet from the rain. The first brush of skin was soothing against the heat of the day. He gripped himself, the way he had a thousand times before. 

His cock wasn’t bad, if he had to say so himself. It was nice and long, a bit on the slender side but definitely not lacking. He let his hand slip up the length, then back down, the stiffness familiar in his palms. 

A few cautious strokes, eyes closed, and he found himself starting to tune everything out. This was just like being back at home, really. Home, but with thousands of deadly monsters, cancer rain, bandits, and everything else. He didn’t need to think about all that, just the circle of his fingers as he rolled back the foreskin and stroked up and down. 

His cock gave a little twitch in his hand, a drop of precum beading up at the tip. He swiped his thumb over the slit and smeared it down his length, adding just a little bit of slickness to the damp of the rain. 

A breathy sigh slipped out. 

“Is it good, Rhysie?” Jack purred. The words pooled in Rhys’s gut. He was close. Too close- “Wow, you look really turned on right now.”

He gasped, eyes flying open to see Jack leaning in far, far to close. “F-fuck! Please stop talking,” Rhys groaned. 

“Language!” The tone of Jack’s voice brokered no discussion. The anger melted away quickly, because he circled Rhys, watched him cock his thighs a little further apart. “Don’t want to hear me talking, pumpkin?”

Rhys bit his lip. Jack was looking at him, devouring him with his eyes. It didn’t matter that Rhys was outside in the rain. It didn’t matter that anyone could find him like this, that Vaughn could come along, or bandits could catch him with his pants down. _Jack_ was the one who made him feel so exposed. 

That piercing holo stare seemed to sink down into Rhys’s very core of his being, left him aching somewhere he couldn’t describe, made his cock give a willful little twitch. Another peal of thunder rumbled, low and intense. 

“It’s… not you talking,” Rhys said last. “It’s…” The sound of Jack’s voice, the reminder of him there, the feeling that Jack was privy to _everything,_ down to the direction Rhys’s cock curved when it was hard enough to hurt. It twitched in his palm. 

Jack was glowing, almost. The grin he wore was so bright that it was nearly painful. “Ahahaha, so my voice does it for you too, then? Don’t tell me I turn you on too right now? Is that it?”

“Maybe,” Rhys said. He looked away. Confessing was usually like pulling teeth, and yet it slipped out, easier than breathing. “You are my hero.”

“Oh _man,_ pumpkin, the way you just looked so ruined when you said that! That’s a good look on you. I can’t work with this. Want me to help you out a bit? I don’t normally do this, but you’re such a cute thing, Rhysie, baby. Stroke mine, I’ll stroke yours. Metaphorically. I mean my ego, and your dick.”

Rhys couldn’t hold back the low pitched whine in his chest. “You really don’t- have to,” he muttered. But his fly was down, his legs were splayed apart, and Jack knelt down beside him, a lecherous grin on his face. 

“Look, you’re a fan of mine right? This’ll be fun. I want to see how _wrecked_ I can make you. So sit back, cupcake. Let’s do this.” Jack cracked his knuckles. He waved his right arm. 

Rhys’s cybernetics gave a sudden and violent twitch. The eye rolled in his skull, sparking almost painfully, while the right arm spasmed along the ground. “What are you doing?” Rhys yelped. 

“Lemme drive a bit, let’s see if I can make you scream…” Jack mused. Rhys grabbed for his metal wrist, but the cybernetics drove past his normal hand and encircled Rhys’s cock. 

Rhys went stock still, afraid he was going to lose his dick in a masturbatory accident involving his cybernetics. But Jack made the mechanical arm stroke slow and deliberate along the length. Rain lashed the ground, splashing up around Rhys’s ankles. His toes curled in his boots. “Aah- J-Jack,” he whispered. 

The ECHOeye gave a sudden jerk in its socket. “Wow, they did a good job with the neural uplink connections on this thing,” Jack said. “Excellent quality. The folks in R&D do this, princess? I got access to just about _everything_ in here,” Jack said, grinning wide. “Let’s just try… this.”

Heat flooded Rhys’s entire body, like liquid fire poured into his veins and drowning him in pleasure. He gasped and kicked. His body jerked. 

“Oh yeah, dopamine. Good stuff. Let’s keep that going,” Jack said. 

Rhys’s cock made another pathetic, desperate twitch. The cybernetic hand gave a nimble little flick of the thumb, trailing up the vein on the underside and leaving Rhys spasming on the dirt ground. He could barely breathe through the pleasure. 

Jack stroked him like a lover, the touch deliciously foreign when it was someone else in control. Jack was in charge of Rhys’s pleasure now, and he was letting it flow in delicious waves, crashing over Rhys’s entire body. 

He let his head fall back, legs spread wide. He ached for more. “Close, I’m so close- fuck, Jack-”

The metal hand seized his cock at the base. Handsome Jack’s blue holographic face filled his field of vision. “Now what did I say about language, Rhysie?” Rhys wheezed. The pain filled his eyes with stars, and his head rolled. Lightning flashed, but the thunder was so far away. 

“Ja-ack-” Rhys coughed. His fingers scrabbled along the dirt. The pain was unreal. He was going to lose his dick-

The pain lessened. Jack was smiling. The metal fist curled just a little too tightly around Rhys’s cock, pressure bearing down with a subtle threat. “Are you going to be a good boy now, kitten?”

“Yes! Okay, okay! Alright?” Rhys pried the metal fingers from his tender cock, his balls aching where the skin was pinched. He was still furiously hard, the tip dripping copious amounts of precum. “I’ll- I’ll be good.”

“Good,” Jack said. “Good boy, Rhysie, kitten, let’s get going then, shall we? Spread those legs apart again. Give me some room to work.”

Rhys glowered up at Jack before parting his thighs. The hologram Jack sat beside him, almost inside him. The cybernetic arm rose up. Another rip of lightning flashed, almost blinding Rhys. He was shaking. God, he was turned on, so much it hurt.

“Touch yourself, pumpkin,” Jack said, right in Rhys’s ear. There was no breath in Jack’s lungs, but it didn’t stop the wind from whistling over Rhys’s neck, like ice over his skin and down his shirt collar. 

Rhys groaned as he grabbed his cock with his left hand. The touch was shaky and a little hesitant at first. He grew more confident with each stroke, egged on by Jack’s crooning voice. 

“Good, just like that, hold yourself a little tighter, good, god you’re freaking gorgeous, y’know?”

Rhys groaned. 

The world was cast in shadows and light. Lashing rain turned the desolate brown wasteland to a floodplain. Rivers cut through the rocks, a wild torrent. The wind kicked up. Rhys was bathed in ice and heat. 

The cybernetic hand crept up of its own volition. Touching. Exploring. It probed underneath Rhys’s shirt, up his lean stomach. The cold fingers left goosebumps in their wake. Little sounds, whimpers, gasps, moans, followed each new touch. It didn’t wait to gauge his response. 

Jack already knew. He could feel Rhys’s pleasure ripping through the neural connections. 

The cold metal hand wrapped around his pectoral. With a firm, quick swipe, the thumb smoothed over his nipple, exploratory at first before it began twisting and pinching. Rhys let out a loud cry. It buzzed through him, ripping him open and listening to the sound of him buzzing like a live wire.

All the little cries, the moans, the whimpers, and he was helpless to hold them back. He desperately tried to muffle it in his shoulder, jerking off a little more frantically than before. “Aaah, ah, _Jack_ , feels so good-”

“I’ve banged a lot of leggy brunettes in my day but I don’t think I’ve ever had one as responsive as you,” Jack said, just a bit of awe creeping into his voice. The cybernetic hand slid down. It joined with Rhys’s hand, playing with the exposed skin near Rhys’s groin. The teasing made pressure bear down on the lines of where his thighs met his body. 

Rhys sucked in a wild breath. The cybernetic hand moved to cradle his balls. It gave them an enthusiastic little roll between metal fingers, weighing them and teasing. It was just on the edge of too much and yet Rhys couldn’t get enough. 

A low growl of thunder ripped through the air. Rhys’s toes curled inside his boots. “Jack- Jack- ah!” He panted hard, head thrown back in wild abandon. The lashing rain did nothing to quiet the sounds coming from his mouth. 

“Is that good for you, Rhysie? Yeah, like that, don’t you? A little slut for me aren’t you? Haha!” 

“Oh- fu- fuck,” Rhys swore. He got another squeeze around his cock for his troubles, but Rhys was gone, gone, gone, mind lost among the brewing clouds above. The frantic tugging on his cock grew quicker. The metal fingers were slick with precum and rain as they touched. 

“Screaming for me already?” Jack breathed. He did a little something with the thumb of the cybernetic hand, a flick of the wrist that made Rhys practically cum right there, made a strangled little scream slip past his lips. 

“Ahhh, Jack, Jack-” Rhys could only echo the name, again and again, the only word he had left in him. He imagined more, imagined Jack being there in the flesh, if Jack would take it further. If Jack would flip Rhys over and fuck him, and if he did, how he would do it. 

Would Jack fuck him hard and fast, or slow and tortuous? And Rhys’s addled brain couldn’t decide which was worse and which was better, especially when Jack pressed the thumb of the cybernetic hand right to the base of Rhys’s cock, just hard enough to make the world spin on its axis a few times. 

Rhys’s breath came faster, harsher. His eyes were rolling in his skull. “Jack, please, I’m so close- I’m so, so close-”

Jack leaned in close, his holo eyes piercing into Rhys’s being. He smiled slowly. “Then come for me, pumpkin. Show me how good Handsome Jack can make you feel.” 

Rhys’s body twitched. More of that overwhelming feeling of goodness flooded him, warm, sinking through his blood and bones. His cock gave a violent jerk between their palms, spurting messily. “Jack- Jack- Jack!” Rhys panted. 

“Good boy,” Jack said, smiling. He was so damned smug, grinning like he was oh so satisfied with what he’d done, the state he’d left Rhys in. 

And okay, maybe that was the best orgasm Rhys had ever had. Mud stained, shivering in the rain, and Rhys was left limp in a puddle, completely boneless. His spent cock was soft in his fingers. He could barely catch his breath. 

“Now was that mind blowing or what? Just imagine what we could do if I had a body!” Jack said. 

Rhys didn’t even try to stand up yet. He was still dazed. “I don’t think I’d survive, to be honest.”

Jack laughed. “Alright, now, on your feet. Time to get you back to muscles. I like your screaming, but I’m pretty sure every bandit in a ten mile radius heard you.”

“It’s pouring rain still,” Rhys groused. He glanced out from under the overhang. The wind spat cold rain in his eyes and face. 

“You’re already soaked, princess. What’s a little more water gonna do to you?” 

Rhys let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t think I can stand.”

Jack’s wry smile stretched impossibly wide. “Do what I say, and maybe you’ll survive long enough for round two, how about that?”

Rhys was on his feet, legs jello-y and weak. “So uh… what was that thing you did with your thumb?”

“Round two, babe. Let’s move out.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to follow me on [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/AurumAuri14)!!


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